In a world of ever growing populations and a finite amount of land we need to produce enough food. To feed people, we as a society devote large amounts of resources to agricultural production. This means we devote 80% of the fresh water that we consume in America to growing our food. We also devote 50% of our land toward food production. Agriculture as an energy intensive industry using ten percent of the USA’s energy. We can also fault farming for large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, two important greenhouse gases, which are causing global warming. Yet we as a society waste 40% of the food we grow. That is a huge amount of food that never makes it to peoples plates. It’s also a huge amount of water, land and energy that is providing no benefit to anyone. At the same time, in California there is a serious drought that is threatening to damage the economy and put more pressure on our already heavily burdened food system. The economic effects of this drought could lead to smaller crops or farms closing, which would increase our imperative to waste less food. Another source of waste are corporations that are losing money by just throwing food out. To make up for these costs people pay more for the food that they do buy. The effects of which combined with our economic system have left one in six with little to no food security and last year 31 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program. These people are further hindered from economic success because they have to spend so much time trying to secure food and undernourished kids have been shown to do worse in school, reducing their long term economic forecast. Thankfully there are steps we can take to stop the waste. The easiest of which is to buy the ugly fruits and vegetables, a French supermarket sells the ugly produce for cheap. This has the twofold effect of reducing the waste and providing a cheap source of healthy food for people with less money. If plans like this one and other waste reduction plans were to shrink our waste by fifteen percent, then we could easily feed another 25 million people. This would increase our economic output, reduce the rate that landfills go up and help make sure that we are wasting less water and land.
Bibliography
Blad, E. (2014, August 5). School Meal Programs Extend Their Reach. Educational Week.
Gunders, D. (2012). Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill. National Resources Defense Council.
Howard, B. C. (2014, July 15). California Report Warns of Worsening Economic Impacts of Drought. National Geographic.
Howitt, R., Medellin-Azuara, J., MacEwan, D., Lund, J., & Sumner, D. (2014). Economic Analysis of the 2014 Drought for California Agriculture. era economics.
1. Full citation.
Blad, E. (2014, August 5). School Meal Programs Extend Their Reach. Educational Week.
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Evie Blad works for Education Week on stories related to public health as it relates to school. Her recent stories include topics such as Ebola, transgender treatment, bullying, and teenage depression.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
The articles main goal is to talk about hunger in America as it relates to children. She covers the history of food stamps and the school lunch program, and how these programs have a substantial impact on reducing childhood hunger across America. The article also discusses how students do better in school when receiving proper nutrition and some new techniques that are helping further reduce childhood hunger.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
The article focuses on the timeline of food assistance programs to build her narrative. She then uses statistics to back up the need for such programs and to show how effective the programs are at helping students. To further strengthen her argument she talks about specific people or interventions to add a personal touch.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“Kennedy famously visited the Mississippi Delta in 1967 to get a first hand look at how hunger affected its poorest residents. Stunned by what he saw, tears ran down the senator’s cheeks as he sat on a bed in a windowless shack, rubbing the distended belly of a child who sat on his lap.” “In a 2013 survey of 1,000 elementary school and middle school teachers by Washington-based Share Our Strength, 73 percent of respondents said they teach students who “regularly come to school hungry because there isn't enough food at home.” ”
“Mr. Weill said. “There’s no doubt that the gains in nutrition are a central part to the conversation, if not the central part.” “
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
It provides a window into how food waste can have a negative impact on our youth, more expensive food and less food. It also shows how much we are spending to help keep these kids from going hungry and how kids are still underachieving because of hunger. These underachieving kids have a worse economic outlook, all of which are sustainability problems.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
31 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program
Undernourished kids have been shown to do worse in school, reducing their long term economic forecast
1. Full citation.
Gunders, D. (2012). Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill. National Resources Defense Council.
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials? Dana Gunders is a project scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, working on food and agriculture issues. She researches where our food comes from and what keeps our foods safe. Her recent posts have a lot to do about food waste with titles like The Zero Food Waste Forum: A Place Where Waste Reduction Magic Happened and Maybe Healthy School Lunches Can Actually Mean Less Waste.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Her main agreement is that we waste too much food as a society and that there are things to be do be done at every step to reduce the problem.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
On page six of her paper there is a nifty graphic that shows where different foods get wasted the most. She then dives into each place where there is waste and discusses why it exists, for example she talks about food that is never harvested and food that doesn’t make it to sale by farmers. On a sidebar in her report she discusses how “use by” dates have no meaning except when referencing infant formula and how these labels were revised in the UK to successfully reduce waste.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“One large cucumber farmer estimated that fewer than half the vegetables he grows actually leave his farm and that 75 percent of the cucumbers culled before sale are edible.” “American families throw out approximately 25 percent of the food and beverages they buy.69 The cost estimate for the average family of four is $1,365 to $2,275 annually”
“The popular Berkeley, California, grocery store Berkeley Bowl estimates it sells $1,500 per day of produce off its bargain shelf, which offers bags of damaged or nearly expired produce for $.99.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
This is the problem I focused on, food waste, so I used the paper as the backbone of my presentation but it doesn’t go into the matrix of problems that arise from food waste.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
America wastes 40% of the food it grows
We waste a ton of the food we buy, roughly 25% of food bought by consumers ends up as waste
1. Full citation.
Howitt, R., Medellin-Azuara, J., MacEwan, D., Lund, J., & Sumner, D. (2014). Economic Analysis of the 2014 Drought for California Agriculture. era economics.
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
The authors of this article are all researchers from Davis California ether working for the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis or at the Davis UC Agricultural Issues Center or at ERA Economics. Richard Howitt has written extensively on the agro-economic effects of different government projects and has published at least three papers on the economic impacts of the Californian drought
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
This report focuses on the economic loses that the current drought is creating and hints at worse costs down the line.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
The authors first cover how much water has been lost from rainfall and then, how much water we are pumping out of the ground to make up for this shortfall. It then talks about loss of crops, which is how it relates to my research. Finally it relates these numbers to an economic effect which is of the order of $2.2 billion and 17,100 jobs lost. It also mentions that continued drought could lead to depleting groundwater supplies which would drastically increase the economic damage of droughts.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“2014 drought and future droughts. This year, groundwater may replace as much as 75% or 5 million acre-feet of the roughly 6.6 million acre-foot loss of available surface water. “
“$800 million in lost farm revenues and $447 million in additional pumping costs. “
“Failure to replenish groundwater in wet years will continue to reduce groundwater availability to sustain agriculture –particularly more profitable permanent crops – during California’s frequent droughts.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
This article provides a food security argument to reducing waste, as California has a shortfall, we should be reducing waste to make up the potentially lost food. And as the article says that this is likely to be the norm, there could be larger impacts down the road if we don’t reduce food waste.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
The economic loss of $810 million of crop is a substantial loss of food to our food system.
The overuse of groundwater is likely to cause more problems to our food production systems in the future.
Sustainability Problems
October 31, 2014
Matrix Paper 1
In a world of ever growing populations and a finite amount of land we need to produce enough food. To feed people, we as a society devote large amounts of resources to agricultural production. This means we devote 80% of the fresh water that we consume in America to growing our food. We also devote 50% of our land toward food production. Agriculture as an energy intensive industry using ten percent of the USA’s energy. We can also fault farming for large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, two important greenhouse gases, which are causing global warming. Yet we as a society waste 40% of the food we grow. That is a huge amount of food that never makes it to peoples plates. It’s also a huge amount of water, land and energy that is providing no benefit to anyone. At the same time, in California there is a serious drought that is threatening to damage the economy and put more pressure on our already heavily burdened food system. The economic effects of this drought could lead to smaller crops or farms closing, which would increase our imperative to waste less food. Another source of waste are corporations that are losing money by just throwing food out. To make up for these costs people pay more for the food that they do buy. The effects of which combined with our economic system have left one in six with little to no food security and last year 31 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program. These people are further hindered from economic success because they have to spend so much time trying to secure food and undernourished kids have been shown to do worse in school, reducing their long term economic forecast. Thankfully there are steps we can take to stop the waste. The easiest of which is to buy the ugly fruits and vegetables, a French supermarket sells the ugly produce for cheap. This has the twofold effect of reducing the waste and providing a cheap source of healthy food for people with less money. If plans like this one and other waste reduction plans were to shrink our waste by fifteen percent, then we could easily feed another 25 million people. This would increase our economic output, reduce the rate that landfills go up and help make sure that we are wasting less water and land.
Bibliography
Blad, E. (2014, August 5). School Meal Programs Extend Their Reach. Educational Week.Gunders, D. (2012). Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill. National Resources Defense Council.
Howard, B. C. (2014, July 15). California Report Warns of Worsening Economic Impacts of Drought. National Geographic.
Howitt, R., Medellin-Azuara, J., MacEwan, D., Lund, J., & Sumner, D. (2014). Economic Analysis of the 2014 Drought for California Agriculture. era economics.
1. Full citation.
Blad, E. (2014, August 5). School Meal Programs Extend Their Reach. Educational Week.
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Evie Blad works for Education Week on stories related to public health as it relates to school. Her recent stories include topics such as Ebola, transgender treatment, bullying, and teenage depression.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
The articles main goal is to talk about hunger in America as it relates to children. She covers the history of food stamps and the school lunch program, and how these programs have a substantial impact on reducing childhood hunger across America. The article also discusses how students do better in school when receiving proper nutrition and some new techniques that are helping further reduce childhood hunger.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
The article focuses on the timeline of food assistance programs to build her narrative. She then uses statistics to back up the need for such programs and to show how effective the programs are at helping students. To further strengthen her argument she talks about specific people or interventions to add a personal touch.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“Kennedy famously visited the Mississippi Delta in 1967 to get a first hand look at how hunger affected its poorest residents. Stunned by what he saw, tears ran down the senator’s cheeks as he sat on a bed in a windowless shack, rubbing the distended belly of a child who sat on his lap.”
“In a 2013 survey of 1,000 elementary school and middle school teachers by Washington-based Share Our Strength, 73 percent of respondents said they teach students who “regularly come to school hungry because there isn't enough food at home.” ”
“Mr. Weill said. “There’s no doubt that the gains in nutrition are a central part to the conversation, if not the central part.” “
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
It provides a window into how food waste can have a negative impact on our youth, more expensive food and less food. It also shows how much we are spending to help keep these kids from going hungry and how kids are still underachieving because of hunger. These underachieving kids have a worse economic outlook, all of which are sustainability problems.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
31 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program
Undernourished kids have been shown to do worse in school, reducing their long term economic forecast
1. Full citation.
Gunders, D. (2012). Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill. National Resources Defense Council.
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
Dana Gunders is a project scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, working on food and agriculture issues. She researches where our food comes from and what keeps our foods safe. Her recent posts have a lot to do about food waste with titles like The Zero Food Waste Forum: A Place Where Waste Reduction Magic Happened and Maybe Healthy School Lunches Can Actually Mean Less Waste.
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
Her main agreement is that we waste too much food as a society and that there are things to be do be done at every step to reduce the problem.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
On page six of her paper there is a nifty graphic that shows where different foods get wasted the most. She then dives into each place where there is waste and discusses why it exists, for example she talks about food that is never harvested and food that doesn’t make it to sale by farmers. On a sidebar in her report she discusses how “use by” dates have no meaning except when referencing infant formula and how these labels were revised in the UK to successfully reduce waste.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“One large cucumber farmer estimated that fewer than half the vegetables he grows actually leave his farm and that 75 percent of the cucumbers culled before sale are edible.”
“American families throw out approximately 25 percent of the food and beverages they buy.69 The cost estimate for the average family of four is $1,365 to $2,275 annually”
“The popular Berkeley, California, grocery store Berkeley Bowl estimates it sells $1,500 per day of produce off its bargain shelf, which offers bags of damaged or nearly expired produce for $.99.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
This is the problem I focused on, food waste, so I used the paper as the backbone of my presentation but it doesn’t go into the matrix of problems that arise from food waste.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
America wastes 40% of the food it grows
We waste a ton of the food we buy, roughly 25% of food bought by consumers ends up as waste
1. Full citation.
Howitt, R., Medellin-Azuara, J., MacEwan, D., Lund, J., & Sumner, D. (2014). Economic Analysis of the 2014 Drought for California Agriculture. era economics.
2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials?
The authors of this article are all researchers from Davis California ether working for the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis or at the Davis UC Agricultural Issues Center or at ERA Economics. Richard Howitt has written extensively on the agro-economic effects of different government projects and has published at least three papers on the economic impacts of the Californian drought
3. What is the main topic or argument of the text?
This report focuses on the economic loses that the current drought is creating and hints at worse costs down the line.
4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out.
The authors first cover how much water has been lost from rainfall and then, how much water we are pumping out of the ground to make up for this shortfall. It then talks about loss of crops, which is how it relates to my research. Finally it relates these numbers to an economic effect which is of the order of $2.2 billion and 17,100 jobs lost. It also mentions that continued drought could lead to depleting groundwater supplies which would drastically increase the economic damage of droughts.
5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?
“2014 drought and future droughts. This year, groundwater may replace as much as 75% or 5 million acre-feet of the roughly 6.6 million acre-foot loss of available surface water. “
“$800 million in lost farm revenues and $447 million in additional pumping costs. “
“Failure to replenish groundwater in wet years will continue to reduce groundwater availability to sustain agriculture –particularly more profitable permanent crops – during California’s frequent droughts.”
6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus.
This article provides a food security argument to reducing waste, as California has a shortfall, we should be reducing waste to make up the potentially lost food. And as the article says that this is likely to be the norm, there could be larger impacts down the road if we don’t reduce food waste.
7. List at least two details or references from the text that you have used in your presentation and wiki post.
The economic loss of $810 million of crop is a substantial loss of food to our food system.
The overuse of groundwater is likely to cause more problems to our food production systems in the future.